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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. rush — hurry
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cold — an illness
  7. rash — a series
  8. clip — to cut
  9. rash — hasty
  10. vault — a safe
  11. cold — not warm
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. wound — an injury
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. plane — a tool
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — for paper
  24. rash — on the skin

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com